Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

How this film uses it

The film jumps between the day of the robbery and the days before and after it. Some scenes come back more than once, so you see the same events with new information. You keep re-judging the brothers as the order of events shifts.

Where to see it

The robbery sequence. You see the robbery at the jewelry store go wrong, and later scenes return to it and fill in what led there.

How this film uses it

Andy sells the robbery to Hank as a crime with no victims, since the store is insured and only an older employee should be there. Each fix for the first mistake costs more than the last, and the story moves from theft to blackmail to killing.

Where to see it

The shootout in the jewelry store. Their mother is covering the counter, and the plan that was meant to hurt nobody ends with Bobby dead and her mortally wounded.

How this film uses it

Andy and Hank are brothers with the same problem, which is money, and they handle it in opposite ways. Andy is the confident schemer and Hank is the one who panics. One reading is that each shows the other what he could have turned into.

Where to see it

The scenes where Andy pitches the plan to Hank. You watch one brother push and the other give in, and the gap between them is clear.

How this film uses it

Lumet shot the film on a digital camera system, the Panavision Genesis, after trying digital video on an earlier TV series. He said he found shooting on film a hassle. The picture has a plain, close look that suits a story about ordinary people in over their heads.

Where to see it

The robbery at the strip mall store. The scene is shot in the same plain, direct style as the quiet family scenes around it.